Peaceful Development Research Articles

A Reflection on the Human Rights Attitude and International Law Approaches of Iran and Saudi Arabia

Iran and Saudi Arabia are two of the most important countries in the Middle East. Not only do they enjoy the most abundant natural resources, but also have a geopolitical situation that makes their international attitude significant in terms of the East-West political-economic discourse. These features call for an in-depth comprehension of the international as well as human rights approaches of these nation-States. Therefore, this article reviews the foundations of their legal systems, and their contributions to the development of international law and human rights. It concludes that despite few human rights drawbacks in Saudi, its overall contributions to the development of international organisations, peace and security in the region, and human rights law are far greater than those of Iran. But what are the causes of this outcome? To answer this question, establishing a link between national law and international attitude is at stake. This article analyses the constitutional legal foundations that make such a study more interesting.

Movement and Sports for Better World

"Sport can create hope where there was once only despair. It is more powerful than governments in breaking down racial barriers. It laughs in the face of all discrimination." Those are the words of the late, great Nelson Mandela, who overcame huge prejudice in South Africa and united the nation’s people under the idea of equality. Sport and physical activities have a huge impact on children's health and wellbeing. Regular participate in team sports perform better academically and display a greater sense of respect for themselves and others. It helps children develop essential life-skills that will ease their transition into the 'adult' world, including teamwork and empathy. It is helpful for gender equality, and fight against discrepancy. The IOC's "Olympism is a philosophy of life", which can also refer to 'philosophy of life' to sport as whole. It places sport at the service of humanity. Sport connects and unites people unbelievably. The present article discussed the origin of sports and its role for the sustainable development of global harmony and peace.

Opportunities to Improve Eco-Agriculture through Transboundary Governance in Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs) are critical biodiversity areas for the conservation and sustainable use of biological and cultural resources while promoting regional peace, cooperation, and socio-economic development. Sustainable management of TFCAs is dependent on the availability of an eco-agriculture framework that promotes integrated management of conservation mosaics in terms of food production, environmental protection or the conservation of natural resources, and improved human livelihoods. As a developmental framework, eco-agriculture is significantly influenced by existing legal and governance structures at all levels; this study assessed the impact of existing legal and governance frameworks on eco-agriculture implementation in the Lubombo TFCA that cuts across the borders between Mozambique, Eswatini, and South Africa. The assessment used a mixed research method, including a document review, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions. Although the three countries have no eco-agriculture policies, biodiversity practices are directly or indirectly affected by some policies related to environmental protection, agriculture improvement, and rural development. The assessment found that South Africa has the most comprehensive policies related to eco-agriculture; Mozambican policies mainly focus on equity and involvement of disadvantaged social groups, while Eswatini is conspicuous for explicitly making it the responsibility of each citizen to protect and safeguard the environment. The protection of conservation areas is critical to preserving natural habitats and ensuring the continued provision of ecosystem services. The lack of transboundary governance structures results in the Lubombo TFCA existing as a treaty on paper, as there are no clear processes for transboundary cooperation and collaboration.

Measuring Peace of Heart: The Development and Validation of Taṭmainn al-Qulūb Scale (TQS)

Peace of heart is an inner spiritual experience that generates an emotional feeling of harmony. Peace of heart (taṭmainn al-qulūb) is an important aspect applicable for the life of the Muslim community as a treatment for the psychological problems of the modern era, mainly due to the absence of peace. Thus far, no research has been done on the development of peace of heart to capture the uniqueness, specific aspect, and distinctive aspect of peace in Muslim community. A total of 744 respondents responded to this research. Six experts were involved to examine item wording in this research (CVR= .67-1.00). This study has found that the TQS consists of two components (al-sukūn and al-yaqīn) with a good loading factor (.687-.884), Cronbach's Alpha (.844), and item consistency (.545-.857). All items had a good difficulty level and appropriate rating. Convergence validity on this scale was indicated by its correlation with The Brief Serenity Scale (r= .612). The criterion-related validity on this scale was indicated by its correlation with dhikr quality (r= .629), Islamic positive religious coping (r= .518), perceived stress (r= -.453), and sensibility (r= .103). Further studies need to be done based on the followings: 1) Examining the measurement on this topic with larger respondents having equal variance; 2) Considering gender, education level, and age in norming study of this scale; 3) Validating with other measurements to add validity information, especially discriminant validity

Text Sentiment Analysis Based on Transformer and Augmentation.

With the development of Internet technology, social media platforms have become an indispensable part of people’s lives, and social media have been integrated into people’s life, study, and work. On various forums, such as Taobao and Weibo, a large number of people’s footprints are left all the time. It is these chats, comments, and other remarks with people’s emotional evaluations that make up part of public opinion. Analysis of this network public opinion is conducive to maintaining the peaceful development of society. Therefore, sentiment analysis has become a hot research field and has made great strides as one of the hot topics in the field of natural language processing. Currently, the BERT model and its variants have achieved excellent results in the field of NLP. However, these models cannot be widely used due to huge demands on computing resources. Therefore, this paper proposes a model based on the transformer mechanism, which mainly includes two parts: knowledge distillation and text augmentation. The former is mainly used to reduce the number of parameters of the model, reducing the computational cost and training time of the model, and the latter is mainly used to expand the task text so that the model can achieve excellent results in the few-sample sentiment analysis task. Experiments show that our model achieves competitive results.

Konstruksi Bina Damai terhadap Eks-Napiter (Studi Kasus pada Yayasan Lingkar Perdamayan Desa Tenggulun Kecamatan Solokuro Kabupaten Lamongan dalam Menangani Eks-Napiter)

Terrorism that occurred in Indonesia is one of the social phenomena that causes unrest in our society. Like the Bali bombings (2002). The perpetrators have been sentenced by the Court. One of them is Amrozi, he has a large following, A small number of followers and is currently establishing the Circle of Peace Foundation. This foundation focuses on embracing and empowering ex-terrorist convicts (ex-convicts). The author is interested in researching the Peace Development Construction carried out by the Lingkar Peace Foundation for ex-convicts. This paper reveals another side of dealing with terrorism by building peace between governments, terrorists and the general public. The research method used by the author is qualitative, namely by direct observation and interviews with the management of the Lingkar Peace Foundation, as well as several ex-convicts.

Konstruksi Bina Damai terhadap Eks-Napiter (Studi Kasus pada Yayasan Lingkar Perdamayan Desa Tenggulun Kecamatan Solokuro Kabupaten Lamongan dalam Menangani Eks-Napiter)


 Terrorism that occurred in Indonesia is one of the social phenomena that causes unrest in our society. Like the Bali bombings (2002). The perpetrators have been sentenced by the Court. One of them is Amrozi, he has a large following, A small number of followers and is currently establishing the Circle of Peace Foundation. This foundation focuses on embracing and empowering ex-terrorist convicts (ex-convicts). The author is interested in researching the Peace Development Construction carried out by the Lingkar Peace Foundation for ex-convicts. This paper reveals another side of dealing with terrorism by building peace between governments, terrorists and the general public. The research method used by the author is qualitative, namely by direct observation and interviews with the management of the Lingkar Peace Foundation, as well as several ex-convicts.

A multi-level, time-series network analysis of the impact of youth peacebuilding on quality peace

PurposeOver 60% of armed conflicts re-occur; the seed of future conflict is sown even as a peace agreement is signed. The cyclical nature of war calls for a focus on youth who can disrupt this pattern over time. Addressing this concern, the developmental peace-building model calls for a dynamic, multi-level and longitudinal approach. Using an innovative statistical approach, this study aims to investigate the associations among four youth peace-building dimensions and quality peace.Design/methodology/approachMulti-level time-series network analysis of a data set containing 193 countries and spanning the years between 2011 and 2020 was performed. This statistical approach allows for complex modelling that can reveal new patterns of how different youth peace-building dimensions (i.e. education, engagement, information, inclusion), identified through rapid evidence assessment, promote quality peace over time. Such a methodology not only assesses between-country differences but also within-country change.FindingsWhile the within-country contemporaneous network shows positive links for education, the temporal network shows significant lagged effects for all four dimensions on quality peace. The between-country network indicates significant direct effects of education and information, on average, and indirect effects of inclusion and engagement, on quality peace.Originality/valueThis approach demonstrates a novel application of multi-level time-series network analysis to explore the dynamic development of quality peace, capturing both stability and change. The analysis illustrates how youth peace-building dimensions impact quality peace in the macro-system globally. This investigation of quality peace thus illustrates that the science of peace does not necessitate violent conflict.

Forestry sector, alternative for peace and sustainable development in Colombia. Coffee region case

Forestry sector, alternative for peace and sustainable development in Colombia. Coffee region case

Contemporary International Law and China's Peaceful Development Lingliang Zeng Singapore: Springer Nature (2021). 623 pp. ISBN 978‐981‐15‐8655‐2 (Hardcover) 978‐981‐15‐8657‐6 (eBook). €106.99

Asian Politics & PolicyVolume 14, Issue 2 p. 290-294 BOOK REVIEW Contemporary International Law and China's Peaceful Development Lingliang Zeng Singapore: Springer Nature (2021). 623 pp. ISBN 978-981-15-8655-2 (Hardcover) 978-981-15-8657-6 (eBook). €106.99 Johanna Aleria Lorenzo, Corresponding Author Johanna Aleria Lorenzo [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-0941-0968 University of Amsterdam Law School, Amsterdam Center for International Law, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author Johanna Aleria Lorenzo, Corresponding Author Johanna Aleria Lorenzo [email protected] orcid.org/0000-0002-0941-0968 University of Amsterdam Law School, Amsterdam Center for International Law, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Email: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: 22 April 2022 https://doi.org/10.1111/aspp.12636Read the full textAboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Volume14, Issue2April 2022Pages 290-294 RelatedInformation

CENTENARY OF THE RAPPAL TREATY: ANNIVERSARY IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE CRISIS OF ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN RUSSIA AND GERMANY

April 16, 2022 marks the 100th anniversary of the Treaty of Rapallo, concluded between Russia and Germany during the Genoa Conference. His fate and role is still controversial. Particular attention is paid to the «spirit of Rapallo» – a realistic and pragmatic idea of peaceful development in the context of today’s increased politicization and curtailment of Russian-German economic relations. We consider that following a direct decrease in mutual trade the very significance of Russian-German economic cooperation is further underestimated emotionally and subjectively. Based on a cross-country cross-sectoral analysis, the paper analyzes the interdependence of the key economies of Russia and Germany are presented. We identified the key import positions of both countries. It is emphasized that a purely quantitative calculation of the reduction of ties may be insufficient, since it does not take into account the cascading economic effects generated from supply chains. Using results of surveys of the German business community, we assessed the strength of the sanctions measures introduced with the active support of Germany against Russia regarding the disconnection from the SWIFT system, the freezing of financial accounts, the measures introduced against the Central Bank of Russia – up to the freezing in principle of economic relations between countries are presented. The author concludes that the anniversary of the Rapallo Treaty, for objective reasons of the military-political situation, remained in the shadows and cannot again put forward considerations for constructive cooperation. Most likely, in the expert community, a reference to it may have an impact on western companies in order to prevent a complete break in business relations with Russian companies.

From War Studies to Peace Building and Social Transformation at the University of Zimbabwe in the Post-COVID-19 Era: New Directions

This paper uses a positive peace lens to examine the evolution of the War and Strategic Studies (WSS) degree curriculum, to the degree in Conflict, Peace Building, and Social Transformation (CPST) at the University of Zimbabwe in the year 2021, by considering the global pandemic and seeking new directions in the field. The paper addresses two questions: 1) What changes and factors provoked the change in direction, from the WSS curriculum to CPST, and 2) What are the potential benefits of repackaging the war and strategic studies degree programme? The paper argues that the paradigm shift accommodates pandemics like the COVID-19 which configured social, political, and economic patterns of life, and a new direction emerged, that is, a change of focus from negative to positive peace. Among the reasons for curriculum changes, from WSS to CPST, was the desire to give the programme a human face, and to align the degree so that it promotes the positive peace and sustainable development needed to address trajectories associated with emerging nonviolent threats to humanity – such as a global pandemics. Lastly, we see the new direction of the CPST as a counterhegemonic strategy to address confrontational and militaristic approaches to human conflict. COVID-19 has reminded us that confrontational politics are slowly becoming irrelevant for addressing the ambivalence of life, and in the struggle to contain global pandemics, which pose new threats to peace, security and development.

The rise and fall of China’s ‘Peaceful Rise’: Implications for US-China geopolitical competition in the Indo-Pacific

Strategic competition and rivalry between the United States and China has become a paradigm of international relations in the past decade. Central to this growing strategic distrust between Washington and Beijing is the tug of war between the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy and China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). However, the role of China’s ‘peaceful rise/ peaceful development’ strategy and assertive nationalism characteristic of Chinese foreign policymaking in creating an atmosphere of tension and misunderstanding between Beijing and Washington have been largely overlooked. This paper, therefore, seeks to understand the relationship between the rise and fall of China’s ‘peaceful rise/peaceful development’ concept, the emerging prominence of assertive nationalism in China’s foreign policy making and a deteriorating US-China relations with deepening strategic mistrust between the two major powers through a comparative-historical analysis of China’s BRI and the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy. Rather than demonstrating China’s commitment to its ‘peaceful rise/ peaceful development’ to the world, this paper argues that Beijing’s offensive to defend China’s national interests in a confrontational manner is an indication that an increasingly confident Chinese leadership no longer feels the need for reassuring the world that China's ‘rise’ is peaceful and non-threatening in nature. This could embolden Beijing to defy (if not explicitly challenge) the ‘rules-based international order’ upheld/ defended by Washington, thereby spelling the end of China’s ‘peaceful rise/peaceful development’ strategy.

THE TRUST OF DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS TO INFORMATION RELEASED BY DIFFERENT AGENCIES ON SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS

In the context of the contemporary information society, social media is an indispensable information tool in daily life. The fluidity and openness of information on social media lead to a mix of information on its platforms, often making it impossible for users to distinguish the authenticity of the information. It is common for false information to be widely spread and official announcements to be questioned by netizens. Studying how people obtain information on social media and the degree of trust in the information released by different platforms is of great significance for strengthening the management of information dissemination, improving the information dissemination mechanism, and promoting the peaceful development of the media. This study will take social media users of different age groups as the research object through case studies, questionnaires, and interviews to explore the differences in the trust degrees of different age groups in various information on social media platforms and to further compare and analyze the differences. On the one hand, it can grasp the current research on the information trust model of social media users of all ages, and on the other hand, it hopes to provide effective countermeasures and suggestions for strengthening new media information management.

Building a Novel Future: Connecting Peoples and Cultures

Current humanity is experiencing extraordinary levels of material and ideal connectivity. Change being constant and stability exceptional and provisional; one has to expect a significant acceleration of change in the next hundred years. The core question is therefore: What kind of future is being shaped for the next generations, our grandchildren and greatgrand children? Without going too far back in time, it is fair to say that the current world was shaped by two different, successive and antinomic global processes: imperial expansion, colonization and domination on the one hand, and resistance, struggle for liberation, and the search for a more equitable world order on the other hand. Against all the odds, European imperialism, civil war, wars of aggression, and Western ostracism, China was an influential actor in the struggle for liberation of Africa from colonialism, got its rightful place in the international world order and is now the second economy of the planet. Globalization resulted in the emergence of a de facto multipolar world, with different models of societies and organizational cultures. These are dialectic processes constantly in operation, but there is however a third crucial area of interest, generally taken granted, that of people and culture. Peaceful relations and sustainable economic development backed by greater cultural and demographic connectivity are better options for the construction of a novel future for humanity. Universities and higher education institutions can play an important role in spearheading and implementing these new orientations for the construction of a future peaceful and sustainable human world in which war will be outlawed. This paper outlines what academics can do to promote such a vision.

UN Relief Agency for Palestine Refugees in Near East in 1956–1967: a Case of a Humanitarian Action

Following the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and the Arab states in 1948, a problem of Arab refugees from Palestine appeared. Presence of a large group of destitute people in such a strategically valuable region was posing a threat to the interests of the Unites States and the United Kingdom pressuring them to conduct measures of humanitarian relief. In 1950 United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established to facilitate material and rehabilitative needs of the Palestine refugees. A period of Agency’s history between the Suez Crisis of 1956 and the Six-Day War of 1967 was a time of relatively stable and peaceful development. Its works and services were developing in general accordance with trends established in the first half of 1950s. Basic food rations remained the same, while the Agency continued to eliminate more self-sustaining refugees from the ration roll. Building programs took place in the refugee camps, aimed at replacing huts and tents with houses for Palestinians to live in. Public health improved dramatically due to the Agency’s advancements in preventative medicine. By the end of 1950s the UNRWA change its approach to refugees’ rehabilitation and integration in the socio-economic systems of the Arab states bordering Palestine. From 1958 onwards education became a focal point in the Agency’s efforts to ensure refugees’ self-sustenance. Despite visible progress and pragmatic measures, the UNRWA was not able to solve the humanitarian problem. The number of refugees continued to grow in spite of the Agency’s efforts to roll out an effective educational program. One of the primary reasons behind its inability to fully address the issue was lack of finances. Over-reliance on UN member states for funds made it impossible for the Agency to sustain costly operations necessary for full relief and rehabilitation of displaced persons. It is possible that most of the UN member states did not view large donations as a venture worth perusing, forcing UNRWA work with very limited resources.

Peaceful development as an example of relational behaviour of the PR China within the global governance

Becoming the second world economy and one of the most active, assertive, but vulnerable actors too, China was urged to bring new understanding of the Global Governance. However, that understanding has to be widely accepted by the international community. Hence, China offered international partners peaceful development diplomatic discourse. The first part of the paper is theoretical framework. The definition of our research subject is grounded on relational theory, moral realism theory of international relations and political economic concept of structural power. The second part of the paper tackles the idea of Global Governance and how China perceives it in achieving foreign and domestic policy, security and economic goals. The third part analyses the discourse of peaceful development with focus on strategic reasons that pushed China to pursue it in its foreign policy. This will be helpful to understand why China insists that diplomacy is very much needed activity in its ambitions in becoming the global superpower.

The role of national and cultural centers in the development of international peace in the country

The role of national and cultural centers in the development of international peace in the country

The International Spread of Chinese Kung-Fu

The international spread of Chinese Kung-Fu is of great significance to promote world sports cultural exchanges and increase world peace. Chinese Kung-Fu has a long history, extensiveness and profoundness. Chinese Kung-Fu advocates the concept of being soft and strong in fighting wisdom and pursuing peace, which is consistent with China’s image of advocating peaceful development. The international spread of Chinese Kung-Fu requires innovation. The global spread of competitive Kung-Fu based on western competitive concepts has expanded the scope and audience of Chinese Kung-Fu. Chinese Kung-Fu has been spread around the world, and Chinese Kung-Fu halls have been opened in countries such as the United States, the Philippines, Singapore and others. The international spread of Chinese Kung-Fu needs to continue to overcome some difficulties. The internationalization of Kung-Fu can not only enhance the sports and cultural exchanges among countries, but also enhance the friendship and understanding of people around the world, and improve people’s health. The study aimed to determine and analyze the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu. Specifically, it sought to answer the following questions: 1) What is the status of the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu as to the level of its: a. strength; b. weakness; c. opportunity and; d. threat? 2) What are the strategies of the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu in terms of: a) macro-strategic environment; and b) me so-strategic environment? 3) What combination of strategies is most effective in the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu based on the QSPM analysis model? The following are the major findings of the study: 1) The status of the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu as to level is high in terms of strengths and very high in terms of opportunities, weaknesses and threats. 2) The macro-strategic environment strategies in the Internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu involve political stability, economic security, effective social communication and efficient use of advanced technology. In terms of meso-strategic environment, concerns are on competitive advantage, bargaining power of clients and threats of potential entrants. 3) Based on the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) model, the best strategy to use in the internationalization of Chinese Kung-Fu is the integration of its strengths and opportunities (SO) in the planning, marketing and implementation of tactics and approaches.

Germany’s Russia Policy in Light of the Ukraine Conflict: Interdependence Theory and Ostpolitik

Germany’s recent Ostpolitik (Eastern Policy) has become a major topic in Western discussions about how to deal best with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. This essay proceeds from Interdependence Theory to argue that the Berlin-promoted Nord Stream gas pipeline projects are loosening Russian-Ukrainian economic ties, and thereby easing conflict between the two post-Soviet states. Ukraine’s surprisingly peaceful development during its first 20 years as an independent state is contrasted with the escalation of tensions between Moscow and Kyiv in 2013–2014. The completion of the first Nord Stream pipe in October 2012 is seen as a crucial development that untied the Kremlin’s hand vis-à-vis Ukraine. The lowering of Moscow’s dependence on the Ukrainian gas transportation system, due to the new Baltic Sea pipeline, eventually led to a territorial conflict between Ukraine and Russia.